The share of homegrown NHS staff at the hospital in Reading and health facilities in the surrounding area is decreasing.

Meanwhile, the share of NHS staff in the area coming from around the world is increasing.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service has delved into statistics from the BBC Shared Data Unit which has tracked doctors and nurses entering and leaving employment at NHS Trusts across the country from 2015 to 2021.

At the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the  Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, the number of doctors and nurses joining the Trust from the UK declined by 15 per cent.

Meanwhile, an increasing share of joiners are coming from around the world, with 276 staff starting at the trust, a 12.3 per cent increase since 2015.

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Despite Brexit, doctors and nurses from the EU are still joining – 125 did so from 2015-2021, a 207 per cent increase in the share of staff.

Over the data period, 85 staff from the EU did leave the Trust, representing 9.4 per cent of those who left.

The Trust has staff from more than 40 different countries.

However, the majority of those joining the Trust are still from the UK, with 602 doctors and nurses joining it from 2015-2021.

You can see the data in the table below:

Many UK staff left between 2015-2021 as well, with 279 having left by 2021.

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust is also responsible for the Bracknell Healthspace, West Berkshire Community Hospital in Thatcham,  Townlands Memorial Hospital in Henley and the Windsor Dialysis Unit.

A Trust spokesperson said that it had faced staffing challenges but is working to address the situation.

The spokesperson said: “As a Trust, we are really proud to have a diverse workforce that reflects the community we serve – with staff from more than 40 different countries around the world.

“Like many NHS organisations, we have faced challenges around recruitment and retention in recent years but are taking active steps to improve both the opening of our new state-of-the-art staff wellbeing centre later this year.

“We are also proud this week to be welcoming our largest cohort of Internationally Registered Nurses to the Trust, whose knowledge and experience is invaluable.”

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In neighbouring Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, the majority of doctors and nurses joining were from around the world.

According to the statistics, 291 doctors and nurses joined that trust during the period, with only 95 ‘homegrown’ doctors and nurses joining.

Frimley Health Trust runs Frimley Park Hospital in Frimley, Wexham Park Hospital in Slough and Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot.

Nationally,  58 per cent of doctors joining the health service last year came from the UK, down from 69 per cent in 2015.

Health bosses are increasingly looking globally for recruitment, with doctors coming from the Rest of the World rose from 18 per cent to 34 per cent  from 2015-2021, and that share of international nurses rocketing from seven per cent to 34 per cent.